Times and places 1979

This is a painting by Jean Dubuffet, called ‘Times and places’, and it looks like it’s been made with a childlike freedom using thick, bold strokes of paint. It’s a collage of different scenes and figures, all jammed together in a way that feels both chaotic and deliberate. I can imagine Dubuffet, brush in hand, almost wrestling with the canvas. The way he’s layered these raw, untamed shapes and figures on top of each other, it’s like he’s digging for something. The colors themselves—red, black, a pale fleshy pink—they feel primal, like they’re coming from somewhere deep. I love how he uses a simple clock motif to ask questions about life, death and the nature of temporality. There's a real kinship between Dubuffet's attitude and that of Philip Guston, both diving headfirst into a kind of messy, awkward honesty. It’s painting at its most vulnerable, embracing all the strange and contradictory impulses that make us human. It’s through these painters that the conversation about art and what it means to be human continues.